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A plain-English guide to what Depth shows. Everything on this site is a paper record: Harbor is simulated, SWELL has not been issued, and no real funds are involved.
Glossary
- Paper record
- A simulation run on live data. Current makes its decisions as it would with real funds, and each trade is simulated against the live state of the pools read from a Subtensor node, including fees and slippage. No transaction is sent and no funds move.
- Harbor
- The wallet that holds the basket's assets. In the paper record Harbor is simulated, with 250 TAO at genesis.
- NAV (net asset value)
- The value of everything Harbor holds, in TAO: subnet positions marked at their pool's spot price, plus TAO staked on root, plus TAO in the wallet. The price-only figure leaves out staking yield; a second figure adds modelled yield.
- NAV per SWELL
- Harbor's NAV divided by the SWELL supply. In the paper record the supply is a fixed paper supply set at genesis; SWELL has not been issued. Depth shows it per 10,000 SWELL, so the reference rate reads 1.0000 TAO.
- Alpha
- The token of a Bittensor subnet. Staking TAO into a subnet's pool buys that subnet's alpha; unstaking sells it back for TAO. Its price in TAO moves with the pool.
- Root
- The Bittensor root network (netuid 0). TAO staked on root earns a share of emissions without holding any subnet's alpha.
- Root reserve and root (awaiting deployment)
- The root reserve is a fixed 5% of NAV staked on root. Root (awaiting deployment) is TAO that is not yet in a subnet position, also staked on root, where it earns root yield until Current deploys it. Both use the same validator.
- Modelled yield
- An estimate of the staking yield the positions would earn, from on-chain emission data. It is shown separately from price-only NAV because it is an estimate, not a result.
- Slippage
- The price impact of a trade: a buy pushes the pool price up and a sell pushes it down, so a trade fills at a worse average price than the price before it. Larger trades in smaller pools slip more.
- Validator take
- The share of staking rewards a validator keeps before passing the rest to the people who delegate stake to it. Depth shows the take of each validator Harbor's stake is delegated to.
How genesis works
The reference mint rate is 10,000 SWELL per TAO before multipliers. Each genesis tranche mints its TAO at that rate times its multiplier.
| Tranche | Multiplier | Share of TAO | Share of SWELL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founder | 1.50x | 10.0% | 13.6% |
| Liquidity allocation | 1.00x | 5.0% | 4.5% |
| Tranche 1 | 1.15x | 8.0% | 8.3% |
| Tranche 2 | 1.10x | 8.0% | 8.0% |
| Tranche 3 | 1.05x | 69.0% | 65.6% |
Earlier commitments receive more SWELL per TAO. The founder tranche is committed first and carries the launch risk.
Because of the multipliers, backing per SWELL at genesis is 0.9054 TAO per 10,000 SWELL rather than 1.0000. All later mints are priced at backing.
FAQ
Why do the holding weights look small during the build?
The paper record deploys its starting TAO into subnets gradually over the first 7 days. Weights are shown as a share of total NAV, so while most of the TAO is still staked on root awaiting deployment, each subnet's weight is a small fraction of what it will be once the book is built.
What does "paper" mean here?
Nothing on Depth is real money. Harbor is simulated, trades are simulated against live pool data, staking yield is modelled, and the SWELL supply is a paper figure. The record shows how the method behaves on real market data before any real funds are involved.
What changes at launch?
At launch Harbor holds real TAO, its address is published on Depth, SWELL is minted and redeemed through Portal, and the mint and redemption fees below apply. The paper record and the live record are reported separately.
How can I check the numbers?
Every data panel shows the time and block of the snapshot it reads. Pool prices, stakes and validator takes at that block can be checked on any Bittensor explorer or node. Trades and daily NAV can be downloaded as CSV from the Activity and Performance pages, and the same data is available from the public API at api.taoswell.com. Material changes to the method are listed in the Methodology change log.
Fees
- Mint
- 0.50%
- Redemption
- 0.75%
No ongoing fees. Only mint and redeem fees. A fee is charged on the amount minted or redeemed. The paper record has no mints or redemptions, so no mint or redemption fees appear in it. Simulated network costs (stake fees, transaction fees and slippage) are included in the paper NAV and shown on the Overview.
Risks
- Subnet price risk
- Subnet alpha prices can fall sharply, and a subnet can lose most of its value. NAV moves with the prices of the subnets held.
- Slippage
- Buying and selling moves pool prices. In thin pools, or when many holders sell at once, trades can fill well below the quoted price.
- Custody
- Live funds depend on the keys that control Harbor. Lost or compromised keys can mean lost funds.
- Smart contract
- Minting and redemption rely on smart contracts. A bug or an exploit in a contract can cause losses.
- Validator
- Staking rewards depend on the validators stake is delegated to. A validator can raise its take, stop earning, or lose its permit, which lowers rewards.
Past or simulated performance does not indicate future results. Nothing here is financial advice.